WAKEFIELD — The long-awaited rededication ceremony of the new Galvin Middle School will be held this Saturday, Nov. 15, beginning at 7 p.m. Prior to the festivities, however, students and school staff will lead guided tours of the sparkling facility, starting at 5 p.m.
The Galvin Middle School project will cost about $74.6 million when it is completed, with local taxpayers picking up $39.9 million of the total.
The Galvin is being rededicated in the name of retired four star U.S. Army General John Rogers Galvin, a mason’s son who went from Pleasant Street to the very highest ranks of the United States military. General Galvin was the military commander of NATO during the five years that ended the Cold War. He has come back to his hometown many times and has said time and again over the years that the values he learned in Wakefield helped shape the man he became.
The rededication ceremony will begin with opening remarks by Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio.
Following Maio’s comments, the Wakefield Memorial High School Chamber Singers will deliver the National Anthem, with Ann Morel directing.
Executive Director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority Jack McCarthy will then speak followed by comments from local officials, including Brian Falvey, chairman of the Board of Selectmen; Patrick Glynn, chairman of the Galvin Building Advisory Committee; Christopher Callanan, chairman of the School Committee; Dr. Stephen K. Zrike, superintendent of schools and Frank Hayes of Bond Brothers, the company hired to build the school.
Joseph Bertrand will then speak on behalf of the Permanent Building Committee, which also includes Lisa Butler, Philip Crosscup, Michael Giannattasio, James Lapery, Elizabth Martin, Charles Tarbell and the late John B. Encarnacio, former chairman who passed away on Friday, Oct. 31.
The ceremony will also include a performance of high school wind ensemble playing “Armed Forces – The Pride of America” directed by Thomas Bankert, a tribute from Kathleen Galvin to General John Galvin for whom the school is named and comments from School Principal Mark Bedrosian.
Students in grades 5 through 8 will also speak at the event, including Allida Keliher, grade 5; Matthew Cunningham, grade 6; Melanie Benedetto, grade 7 and George Rossi, grade 8.
The high school’s concert band led by Bankert will perform “Edge of Destiny” for the closing of the ceremony.
A collation will follow in the school’s cafeteria.
Others involved in the school’s construction were Charles Hay and Christopher Blessen, Tappe Associates, Inc.; Stuart Lesser, Jeffery Luxenberg, Lynn Stapleton and Jennifer Gareau of Joslin, Lesser & Associates, Inc. and Frank Hayes, James Wrisley, Jerry Hammersley and David Capaldo of Bond Brothers, Inc.
